Meeting Minutes - 3/2/2002

Attending: Sir Brinn, Sir Cemb, Cryheart, Dame Deavon, Eahlstan, Evia, Goldstr, Guarrin, Kinshack, Kriztian, Kytaara, Metadi, Morgiest, Pomic, Sir Ruffelin, Shallimar, Shirkon, Skorrian, Strathe, Typhus, Xanith, Yarx, Yviarra

The meeting was called to order by Lord Typhus.

I. Guest Issues
Kriztian announced Falicor as his guest for two previous meetings, but Falicor had been unable to attend those meetings. It was, therefore, decided to ask for objections from the members prior to bringing Falicor into the meeting, tonight, since Kriztian had not announced him for this week. There were no objections.

Typhus announded that he would be bringing both Harmonious and Leku.

II. Squire Issues
No new squires were announced, though Typhus inquired about the process of announcing a squire as he intends to announce Leku.

Sir Brinn brought up the issue of squire reform. Sir Ruffelin had recently approached Sir Brinn with thoughts on this issue. Sir Brinn asked Sir Ruffelin to put together a team to work on the subject and it was suggested that they consult Zyanna, who had also been doing some work on squire reform.

All members interested in joining the team to discuss squire reform should contact Sir Ruffelin by scroll ( Results of the team suggestions are requested within 4 weeks.

III. Inactivity Proposal
Sir Brinn presented this proposal to the membership.

"It is necessary to have a policy regarding inactivity to ensure that members do not vote in an uninformed manner on key issues before the Order. When a Member is away for extended periods of time, they fall out of touch with the issues and topics before the Order, and therefore, should be prohibited from voting for a period of time sufficient to come back up to speed."

"This policy is intended to avoid people voting in an uninformed manner. People may be given only a partial side of an issue and maybe asked to vote. Thus, a member could, by campaigning one-sidedly toward the inactive members, sway a vote that has not been adequately discussed by the voting membership."

"This policy is also intended to avoid people coming out of inactivity to sway a vote in a particular direction in an act of collusion. Collusion, in this instance, is giving a vote to a cause due to a reason other than the stance on the cause. For example, Sir Ruffelin my feel strongly about a vote, but knows he cannot win. In extended discussion on the topic, it is clear he is two votes shy of winning. So, he calls his friends, Pip, Berr, and Heinrich, and asks them to show up on Sunday to vote for his cause. They do so, Sir Ruffelin's vote passes, and the three slip back into inactivity. In this case, a vote which does not reflect the will of the active membership has been passed."

"When/how will it be invoked?"

"A member will be declared inactive upon missing six consecutive weeks of meetings, regardless of how many meetings occur in that time frame. There is no exception to this rule. Inactivity with a good reason is still inactivity, and could just as easily result in the undesired results listed above"

"How will it be measured?"

"Attendance of meetings will be measured as recorded in the minutes of the meetings as recorded by the Scribe of the Order. Objections or inaccuracies need to be cleared by the Leader."

"Who can/should invoke it?"

"A member is automatically declared inactive after six weeks of missed meetings. No one need invoke inactivity, and no one need declare someone inactive."

"What are the effects?"

"Inactive members cannot participate in votes before the Order. They can participate in discussions, and can attend social events with no stigma and without announcement of their inactive status."

"How can it be revoked/lifted?"

"A member is automatically active again upon attendance of three consecutive meetings. If any meetings are missed in the mean time, inactive status continues until three consecutive meetings are attended. If a member attends two meetings, then misses, they will still need to attend three consecutive meetings before becoming active."

VOTE: After discussion of the policy, a vote was called by Lord Typhus. The results are as follows: Aye - 16, Nay - 0, Abstain - 1. The Inactivity Policy is accepted and will be added to the By-Laws.

IV. Policy Format
Sir Brinn suggested that any policies presented to the membership, in the future, should take the following format:

1) Why is it necessary?
2) What is it intended to achieve/avoid?
3) When/how will it be invoked?
4) How will it be measured?
5) Who can/should invoke it?
6) What are the effects?
7) How can it be revoked/lifted?

V. Discussion of Sir Cemb/Holswort
Lord Cryheart and Sir Cemb related the events of this afternoon wherein Holswort was seen in the Landing and eventually challenged Sir Cemb to a duel. Sir Cemb was victorious in the duel, killing Holswort after a lengthy battle. Sir Edumond of the Order of the Golvern Star appeared after Holswort had been slain and carried the corpse away. Sir Edumond hinted that there may be further ramifications from the incident.

It was decided that a letter would be sent to Baron Malwind to advise him of the incident and relay our version of the events before Holswort or others could possibly misrepresent the facts. Lord Cryheart will be drafting the letter to be dispatched by Sir Brinn this very evening.

VI. Morgiest
Morgiest announced to the members that he will soon be stepping down as leader of Onoir. Once their elections have been held, he will see that the new leader contacts the Gryphons in order to maintain a cooperative relationship between the two organizations.

Next Meeting: It was decided that the next meeting will be held two weeks hence, (the 16th) with Lord Eahlstan serving as Chairman. A group hunt will be held next week (the 9th) with all those interested gathering at the Holding at the regular time.

A brief Council meeting was held afterwards.